Call for abstracts

Road networks and environmental change
Illustrated paper session ID 8942

Association of American Geographers, 
Annual Meeting, April 14-18, 2010
Washington, D.C.

Co-sponsors: 
·       Transportation Geography Specialty Group
·       Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group

Road networks transport people, goods and ideas across vast geographic 
spaces. While the development of road networks is associated with the 
economic and social development of regions, increases in infrastructure 
and traffic are also known to cause a variety of ecological effects, 
including the fragmentation of landscapes and animal populations. 
Accessibility of remote areas by roads is a significant variable in 
processes of land cover and land use change (LCLUC). New research is 
exploring the dynamics of roads and traffic on wildlife populations, the 
effects of increased accessibility on indigenous and traditional 
societies, and the vulnerability of road networks to changing climatic 
conditions.  This illustrated poster session calls for research 
contributions in the spatial and geographical dimensions of road ecology. 
We especially encourage graduate students to contribute. Potential topics 
could include but are not limited to:
·       methods for the analysis of road network systems
·       models examining the role of road networks in social and 
environmental change
·       effects of roads and traffic on wildlife populations, spread of 
invasive species, and other ecological perturbation
·       the consequences of road network development in traditional or 
indigenous societies
·       the comparative effects of road network development in diverse 
ecological systems
·       comparison of ecological effects of climate change and road 
network development, including identification of synergies between them
·       road network development as a driving force of LCLUC
To participate in the session, please submit your abstract at www.aag.org, 
and send your personal identification number (PIN) (received from AAG 
after submitting your abstract) to [email protected]. 
Please note that the deadline for abstract submission is October 28, 2009. 


Session Organizers: 
Alisa Coffin, USGS, Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center, 
[email protected] 
Ray Watts, USGS, Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center, [email protected] 


Alisa Coffin, PhD
Research Geographer, Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow
USGS--RMGSC, Fort Collins Science Center
2150 Centre Ave. Bldg. C
Fort Collins, CO  80526

email: [email protected]
phone: 970.226.9480
fax: 970.226.9230

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